


Document 0114-10/10

by RoadsideGopnik



Series: The Memory Archives [3]
Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Ableism, Child Death, Childhood Trauma, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Parental Abuse, Trauma, religious trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:15:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24498544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoadsideGopnik/pseuds/RoadsideGopnik
Summary: something we wrote instead of the basic mandatory book essay at school, criminal psychology good ableism bad, read briefly about Richard Kuklinski first for some comprehensive context
Series: The Memory Archives [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753900
Kudos: 2





	Document 0114-10/10

**Author's Note:**

> you're willing to read an ESSAY? how bored are you bro

Countless abusive parents would deny hitting or damaging their child, as they excuse their doings as things that was necessary to their child to learn, or they would say that was “how they were taught in their childhood”. Hitting _counts_ as abuse, and no matter the circumstances, being abused in the past does not justify a person to abuse another. Abuse – whether physical, verbal, emotional or mental – can traumatize a child (in this case, Richard Kuklinski) for life, as supported by family abuse, bullying and other factors. 

Not everyone talks about how much family violence can affect a child. Richard Kuklinski has gone through intense childhood trauma as stated through the first chapters of the book: his father, Stanley beating Richard and his brother, Florian for both real and imagined infractions; murdering Florian, his only childhood friend with one of his beatings (Carlo, page 16); “(Stanley) seemed to blame Richard for everything unjust that ever happened to him” (Carlo, page 17). His mother, Anna, neglected Richard’s safety and health continuously. Research from the Ohio Department of Education showed the hippocampus (part of the brain responsible for function, learning, memory, emotion and control) shrinks with traumatic events. Having gone through tremendous psychological abuse from both his parents and not having someone clearly explain Florian’s death, it stunted Richard’s development and other parts of his brain took the lead, as mentioned him growing “into a painfully shy, awkward child with little confidence in himself” and viewing the world “as a brutal, violent place filled with pain and turmoil.” (Carlo, page 18). Richard had also started stealing to feed himself and his siblings due to Anna’s blatant ignorance on the fact her children needed to eat on a regular basis (Carlo, page 22). 

Studies by Cornell’s University shows that bullying can alter the brain to respond to stressful situations differently than neurotypical brains. Living in several toxic environments along with a family as bad as his, Richard suffered more abuse from other people and gradually grew a permanent inferiority complex (Carlo, page 19), even though he just wanted someone to trust and be his friend. “Neighborhood toughs started picking on him” and it “compounded Richard’s feelings of isolation and resentment; his anxieties mounted” (Carlo, page 18) as a result of abuse. 

Trauma from abuse in Catholic school has dramatically tainted Richard’s view in religion. Although a highly dyslexic child, Richard had been slapped on the hand heavily with a metal ruler when he tried to use his fingers to keep his eyes in the right place on a book (Carlo, page 20). Multiple times had the nuns and priests abused Richard, as if their restrictive and hypocritical teachings were more valuable than a student’s comfort, as mentioned in the second chapter of Kuklinski’s biography, Mean Streets: “the bitter-faced, austere nuns yanked his overly protrusive ears”, a priest talking about inappropriate sexual overtures to Richard (Carlo, page 20); a nun using the narrow edge of a metal ruler to hit Richard across his knuckles so hard she caused him to bleed, another priest slapping and beating Richard with a book (Carlo, page 21). His experiences in church had traumatized him for life, leading him to have little interest in religion and see the nuns and priests as sadistic creeps who used the ominous specter of God to manipulate and control people (Carlo, page 21). 

For these reasons, it is imperative to understand how abuse can influence a child’s mental state for life, as it will cause difficulty for the child in facing and understanding many problems neurotypical people would find easy to do. What if Richard Kuklinski had not gone through such childhood trauma from his family and the environment he lived in? His destiny would only be something to be decided by the limits of imagination. 

**Author's Note:**

> wow you really did it;;;;;;; anyways go read The Ice Man if you're interested, that's where the page references come from.


End file.
